Can what we do as a family affect our health?

[Photos: balloon race, driving cars on the wall, keeping an 'eye' on things, puckering up.]

My family and I went to the Science Museum recently to see a 'Spy' exhibit and a 'Technology' exhibit. It was very interesting with lots of hands on things to do, try, see and learn.

But, rather than give all the details of our trip to the museum, what struck me as I was 'people watching' - there aren't very many heavy to obese people here?! Hmmm ... why is that??

I saw mostly families with kids of all ages (mine ranging from 9-17). As I was sitting there and noticed that, I started looking around more and it was confirmed right away that the general population in there was not a 'normal' sub-section of the general American population: there were very few heavy to obese adults or children.

I mentioned it to my wife who quickly agreed and started pondering the 'why' question with me: "Why do the people at the science museum look more healthy than the ones that I see at other places?" Some of my initial thoughts:

• they are interested in knowledge and may know more about health issues
• they are out with their families doing things together
• they are spending their time and money together
• is it a more educated group, and somehow education can impact our health (but I see medical Dr's who aren't healthy - which is an extreme oxymoron)

I see a lot of heavy parents and kids at the soccer games on Saturdays: so putting kids in sports isn't a clear sign of the 'practice' of good health. I also see healthy people of all ages at the donut store (as well as those not so healthy looking).

My wife and I recently went to Red Robin. It was immediately apparent that the population in there better matched the general population: a much higher percentage of overweight to obese people present. Why? One easy one is: bottomless fries. Or as my wife was saying, where are those bottomless fries going - to peoples bottoms of course.. We shared the fish-n-chips order and it was very tasty - and we had a second serving of fries too. Not that there is any nutritional value, but that they were offered, already paid for and I said sure. And I'm one who thinks about how many miles I'm going to have to run to burn that off: but I still struggle with leaving food on my plate too...

Finial thought: Where we go and what we do can indeed have an impact on our health. Learning to walk away from free food, walk away from food already paid for, ... even, visiting more museum's could be a healthy thing to start doing. :-)

Why do you think the people at the Science Museum are more health than the general population? Please comment. Thanks.

An observation from the Spy exhibit: - One of the 'things' a spy often has to do is lie or deceive others (not a job that would keep you out of conflict with the Ten Commandments). So they had a section there where two people would interact with each other by asking questions about a picture: one would lie and tell the truth and the other would have to pick if they were being truthful or not. What I found out is that I was able to lie with out being detected by my wife 2 out of 2 times and the one time I was telling the truth she thought I was lying..? She on the other hand was detected when she lied and agreed with when truthful. This wasn't a big surprise to me as I can usually tell when things aren't quite right ... which is a good thing for a Father of 5 to be blessed with.